Vatican
City, 11 February 2013
(VIS) – Yesterday afternoon at 6:15pm, the Holy Father visited the
Major Roman Seminary on the eve of its feast of its patroness, Our
Lady of Trust. On arriving he was greeted by Cardinal Agostino
Vallini and the rector, Fr. Concetto Occhipinti. Benedict XVI
delivered a lectio divina on the First Letter of St. Peter to
seminarians of the Major and Minor Roman Seminary, the "Almo
Collegio Capranica", the "Redemptoris Mater" diocesan
seminary, and the Virgin of Divine Love Seminary. Following are ample
excerpts of his address, which was given without an official text.
"Peter
speaks. This is almost the first encyclical by which the first
apostle, vicar of Christ, speaks to the Church of all time. … He
doesn't write as an isolated individual, but with the help of the
Church, of the persons who help him to go more deeply into his faith,
to enter into the depth of his thought. … This is very important:
Peter doesn't speak as an individual, but 'ex persona Ecclesiae'. He
speaks as a man of the Church, certainly as a person, with personal
responsibility, but also as a person who speaks on behalf of the
Church … in communion with the Church."
“I
believe that it is also important that at the end of the letter he
names Silvanus and Mark, two people who belonged to the group of St.
Paul’s friends. Thus, the worlds of St. Peter and St. Paul come
together; it is not an exclusively Petrine theology as opposed to a
Pauline theology. Rather, it is a theology of the Church, of the
faith of the Church, in which there is of course a diversity of
temperament, of thought, of style. It is good that there are
differences—different charisms, different temperaments—then as
well as now. These differences do not divide but are united in the
same faith.”
“St.
Peter writes from Rome. This is important: here we already have the
Bishop of Rome, the beginning of the succession, the basis of the
concrete primacy located in Rome, not only given by the Lord but also
placed in this city, capital of the world. Ever since his flight from
Herod’s prison, Peter entrusted the Judeo-Christian church, the
church of Jerusalem, to James and, in entrusting it to James,
remained without qualification primate of the universal Church,
primate of the Church of the pagans as well as primate of the
Judeo-Christian Church … In Rome he met both parts of the Church:
the Judeo-Christian and the Pagan-Christian united, an expression of
the universal Church. And Peter was not alone in thinking of this
movement: Jerusalem/Rome, Judeo-Christian Church/Universal Church.
St. Paul knew that his end would be martyrdom, would be the cross.
Therefore, to go to Rome was without doubt to go to martyrdom. The
primacy has this universal component and also a martyriological
component. The cross can take many different forms, but one cannot be
Christian without following the Crucified, without accepting also the
martyriological moment.”
“St.
Peter called those to whom he wrote 'the chosen ones who are
dispersed aliens'. Once again we have the paradox of glory and the
cross: chosen but dispersed and strangers. We are chosen: God knows
us always, since before we were born. God wanted me, as Christian, as
Catholic, as priest … he chose me, he loved me, and now I respond.
But to rejoice because God has chosen us is not triumphalism but
gratitude, and I think that we have to learn this joy. Without doubt,
'chosen ones' needs to be accompanied by strangers and dispersed
ones. As Christians, we are dispersed and we are strangers. We see
that today Christians in the world today are the most persecuted
group because they do not conform, because they go against the
tendencies toward egoism and materialism.”
“Certainly
Christians are not only strangers; we are also Christian nations, we
feel proud to have contributed to the formation of culture. There is
a healthy patriotism, a healthy joy in belonging to a nation that has
a great history of culture and faith. However, without doubt, as
Christians we are always strangers; this is the destiny of Abraham,
as it is described in the Letter to the Hebrews. Today, as Christians
we are each time more strangers than before. In the workforce,
Christians are a minority and encounter a situation of alienation. It
is remarkable that today one can still believe and live in this way.
It is part of our life: it is the way of being with Christ Crucified,
being strangers, who do not live the way everyone else lives. We
live—or at least we try to live—according to his Word, in a great
diversity, respectful of what everyone says. This is characteristic
of Christians.”
"Finally
we arrive at today’s three verses. I would only like to point out
three words: regenerated, inheritance, and safeguarded by faith.
Regenerated: this does not only refer to the area of the will; it
refers to the whole sphere of being. It does not depend only on my
will; it is an act of God … I am reborn. I am transformed, renewed.
Being reborn, being regenerated indicates that I become part of a new
family: God, My Father; the Church, my Mother; and other Christians,
my brothers and sisters.”
"The
second word: Inheritance. We are heirs, but not heirs of specific
country but of the land of God, of the future of God. This word says
that as Christians we have the future. Thus, as Christians, we know
that ours is the future, and the tree of the Church is not a dying
tree but a tree that grows ever new. Therefore, we have reason to not
let ourselves be moved by the prophets of doom, as John XXIII said,
who say that the Church is a tree grown from a mustard seed, which
has lived two thousand years but now her time is past and the time to
die has arrived. No. The church always renews itself; it is
continually reborn. The future is ours. Of course, there is a false
optimism and a false pessimism. A false pessimism says that the time
of Christianity has come to an end. No: it begins again! A false
optimism was that witnessed immediately after the Council when
convents and seminaries were closed and people said: it doesn’t
matter, everything is good. No: this is not good! There are also
serious and grave dangers. We have to recognize with a healthy
realism that all is not well. It is not good when they do wrong
things. At the same time, we have to be sure that even though here
and there the Church dies for the sins of humans, because of their
lack of belief, at the same time, it is reborn."
"Finally,
'safeguarded by faith'. Faith is like the 'sentinel' that preserves
the integrity of my being. We have to be grateful for this vigilance
of faith that protects us, that helps us, that guides us, and that
gives us safety. God will not let us fall from his hands."
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